Ada
Lovelace
1815-1852
Augusta Ada King,
Countess of Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly
known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical
general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to
recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation.
She
was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Her family's
reputation
for madness led her to take a keen interest in figuring out the
workings of the human mind before the madness took hold of her as well.
She hoped to gain some insight into thought by developing a machine
that thinks.
She
wrote and translated several papers of the potential of mechanical
computers. She was introduced to Babbage by their mutual friend Mary Somerville.
Husband: William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace
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